The present invention is directed to a checkout scanning system and more particularly to a system for controlling the operation of an optical scanner.
In present day merchandise checkout systems, the use of optical scanners for scanning the Universal Product Code (UPC) labels on purchased merchandise items has become quite common. In the checkout systems in use today, the optical scanner can take the form of a scanner mechanism located in a checkout counter or the form of a hand-held wand. In either case, the optical scanner will scan the bar code pattern that forms the UPC label and generates signals representing the bars and spaces of the pattern for transmission to a processor apparatus which determines the character represented by the bar code pattern. The character which identifies the purchased item is then transmitted to an associated data terminal device and from there to a remote or back office processor which looks up the price of the item in a table located in the processor. The price is then transmitted back through the terminal device where the price is printed on a receipt by a printer mechanism located in the terminal device and then to a customer display member located adjacent the checkout counter where the price of the item is displayed. If an error occurs due to a malfunction of the printer or if the price of the item is not listed in the price-lookup table, error signals are generated notifying the operator to take appropriate actions to correct the situation. In prior optical scanning systems, the error signal would turn on a light indicating the presence of an error condition and generate an error tone in the terminal device. It has been found that because of the noisy environment in which the checkout counter is located, such error signals have not been detected as the operator's attention has been focused on moving the merchandise items past the optical scanner. In the case where the price of the item is not listed in the price look-up table the merchandise items have been processed without being paid for by the customer.
It is therefor the principal object of this invention to provide an error indicating system for an optical scanning device.
It is another object to this invention to provide an error indicating system for an optical scanning device which can distinguish between the types of errors that have occurred.